Portable terminal apparatus

ABSTRACT

A portable terminal apparatus includes a display unit displaying an image, an operation input unit inputting a user operation, and a wireless communication unit performing wireless communication by a wireless LAN, and at a time of startup from a sleep state, a remote control button is displayed on the display unit when a mutual communication with a predetermined access point can be performed in the wireless communication unit, and when the remote control button is selected, a remote control signal corresponding to the selected remote control button is transmitted.

CROSS REFERENCE

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/576,079, filed on Sep. 19, 2019 which is a Continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 16/370,233, filed on Mar. 29, 2019, now U.S.Pat. No. 10,462,278, issued on Oct. 29, 2019, which is a Continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/326,365, filed on Jan. 13, 2017, nowU.S. Pat. No. 10,298,737, issued on May 21, 2019, which is the U.S.National Phase under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No.PCT/JP2014/068826, filed on Jul. 15, 2014, the entire contents of eachare hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a portable terminal apparatus.

BACKGROUND ART

In recent years, portable terminal apparatuses on which touch panels aremounted, for example, a smartphone, have been widely used. Theseportable terminal apparatuses include a lock function to preventunintended input operations. In addition, in order to prevent anunauthorized operation by a third party, password authentication,pattern authentication, and the like are used to release the lockfunction (Patent Documents 1 and 2).

Furthermore, in recent years, by using a wireless LAN function mountedin a portable terminal apparatus, it is possible to remotely controlelectronic devices such as a television apparatus and a recorderapparatus via the LAN (Patent Document 3).

RELATED ART DOCUMENTS Patent Documents

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No.2011-48665

Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No.2013-25357

Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No.2006-203831

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention

Remote control operations on a television apparatus by using a portableterminal apparatus include a channel selection operation at the start ofviewing, a volume control operation during viewing, and a channelselection operation at the end of a given program to select a nextprogram to be viewed. When, for example, selecting a program to beviewed, the user continuously performs a plurality of remote controloperations such as “displaying a program guide,” “selecting a desiredprogram to be viewed,” and “starting to view (channel selection).” Inaddition, the user often performs remote control operations after a fewminutes or more has passed since a previous remote control operationsuch as remote control operations when performing volume control duringviewing or selecting a next program to be viewed after the end of aviewed program.

In order to suppress battery consumption, a portable terminal apparatusis often set such that the portable terminal apparatus is put into asleep state when a predetermined time (e.g., 30 seconds) of anon-operation state passes. When the above predetermined time has passedsince the previous remote control operation, since the portable terminalapparatus is put into the sleep state, it is necessary to start up theportable terminal apparatus before performing a remote controloperation.

As described above, in order to prevent an unauthorized operation by athird party, the lock function is active at the time of startup, andhence, it is necessary to release the lock function by the passwordauthentication or the pattern authentication. That is, when theapparatus is in the sleep state, it is necessary to perform a lockfunction release operation such as the password authentication or thepattern authentication before performing a remote control operation.This leads to poor operability as a remote controller. Setting a mode ofreleasing the lock function without authentication can improve theoperability to some extent. In this case, however, it is not possible toprevent an unauthorized operation by a third party, causing a securityproblem.

In view of the above problem, the present invention provides a portableterminal apparatus having high operability as a remote controller whileensuring security performance.

Means for Solving the Problems

In order to solve the above problem, the typical ones of the inventionsdisclosed in the present application will be briefly described asfollows.

(1) A portable terminal apparatus includes a display unit displaying animage, a wireless communication unit performing wireless communication,and a control unit, and the portable terminal apparatus has a featurethat the control unit determines whether remote control of an externalapparatus can be performed by using the portable terminal apparatus viathe wireless communication unit, at a time of startup from a sleepstate, and controls such that a remote control button is displayed onthe display unit in accordance with the startup from the sleep state,when it is determined that remote control can be performed.

(2) A portable terminal apparatus includes a display unit displaying animage, an operation input unit inputting a user operation, and awireless communication unit performing wireless communication by awireless LAN, and the portable terminal apparatus has a feature that, ata time of startup from a sleep state, a remote control button isdisplayed on the display unit when a mutual communication with apredetermined access point can be performed in the wirelesscommunication unit, and when the remote control button is selected, aremote control signal corresponding to the selected remote controlbutton is transmitted.

(3) A portable terminal apparatus includes a display unit displaying animage, an operation input unit inputting a user operation, and awireless communication unit performing wireless communication by awireless LAN, and the portable terminal apparatus has a feature that,when the portable terminal apparatus is put into a sleep state with aremote control screen being displayed, a remote control button isdisplayed on the display unit at a time of startup from the sleep statewhen a mutual communication with a predetermined access point can beperformed in the wireless communication unit, and when the remotecontrol button is selected, a remote control signal corresponding to theselected remote control button is transmitted.

(4) A portable terminal apparatus includes a display unit displaying animage, an operation input unit inputting a user operation, a GPSreceiving unit acquiring a position, and a wireless communication unitperforming wireless communication by a wireless LAN, and the portableterminal apparatus has a feature that, at a time of startup from a sleepstate, a remote control button is displayed on the display unit when aposition is acquired by the GPS receiving unit and the position is neara predetermined position, and when the remote control button isselected, a remote control signal corresponding to the selected remotecontrol button is transmitted.

(5) A portable terminal apparatus includes a display unit displaying animage, an operation input unit inputting a user operation, and awireless communication unit performing wireless communication, and theportable terminal apparatus has a feature that the portable terminalapparatus includes a determination unit determining whether the portableterminal apparatus is located in a user area, a remote control button isdisplayed on the display unit at a time of startup from a sleep statewhen the determination unit determines that the portable terminalapparatus is located in the user area, and when the remote controlbutton is selected, a remote control signal corresponding to theselected remote control button is transmitted.

Effects of the Invention

The present invention can provide a portable terminal apparatus havinghigh operability as a remote controller while ensuring securityperformance. Problems, configurations, and effects other than thosedescribed above will become obvious from the description of thefollowing embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an internalconfiguration of a portable terminal apparatus according to a firstembodiment;

FIG. 2 is a view showing a configuration example of an entire systemwhen an electronic device is remotely controlled;

FIG. 3 is a view showing a display example when an electronic device(TV) is remotely controlled in the portable terminal apparatus;

FIGS. 4(a) to 4(d) are views for explaining an operation of starting upa portable terminal apparatus from a sleep state;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of the portable terminalapparatus;

FIGS. 6 (a) to 6(d) are views showing an example of a lock screen of theportable terminal apparatus;

FIG. 7 is a table summarizing a correspondence between a state at a timeof releasing the sleep state and a lock screen;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation of a portable terminalapparatus according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a table summarizing a correspondence among a state immediatelybefore the sleep state, a communication state with an AP at the time ofreleasing the sleep state, and a lock screen; and

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation of a portable terminalapparatus according to a third embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Each embodiment will be described below with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an internalconfiguration of a portable terminal apparatus 100 according to a firstembodiment.

Here, a smartphone will be described by way of example. The portableterminal apparatus 100 is constituted by appropriately using a basestation communication unit 101, a CPU 102, a memory 103, a storage 104,a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiving unit 105, a geomagneticsensor 106, an acceleration sensor 107, a gyro sensor 108, aninput/output I/F 109, a wireless communication unit 110, a microphone111, a sound processing unit 112, a speaker 113, an operation input unit114, a display unit 115, a touch panel 116, an image processing unit117, a video input unit 118, and an operation button 119. The respectiveunits are mutually connected to a bus 150. Note that the respectivefunctional units may be integrally or separately formed as needed.

The base station communication unit 101 is a communication interfacewhich performs long-distance wireless communication with a base station(not shown) such as a W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access)base station or GSM (Global System for Mobile communications (registeredtrademark)) base station.

The CPU 102 controls the respective configuration units by executing aprogram stored in the memory 103 and performs various types ofprocessing.

The memory 103 is, for example, a flash memory, which stores a program,data, and the like. The base station communication unit 101 performswireless communication with a base station 500 to download a program tobe stored in the memory 103 from an external server and the like (notshown) and accordingly, the program can be updated or a new program canbe added, as needed. In addition, the portable terminal apparatus 100includes the storage 104 such as a memory card, as needed, and can savedata and the like in the storage 104.

The GPS receiving unit 105 receives a signal from a GPS satellite in thesky. This makes it possible to detect a current position of the portableterminal apparatus 100.

The geomagnetic sensor 106 is a sensor detecting the direction in whichthe portable terminal apparatus 100 is oriented. The acceleration sensor107 is a sensor detecting an acceleration of the portable terminalapparatus 100. The gyro sensor 108 is a sensor detecting an angularvelocity of the portable terminal apparatus 100. By using these sensors,a tilt and movement of the portable terminal apparatus 100 can beprecisely detected.

The input/output I/F 109 is, for example, a USB (Universal Serial Bus),which is an interface for transmitting and receiving data to and from anexternal device (not shown). The wireless communication unit 110 is acommunication interface which performs near field wirelesscommunication, and uses, as a communication scheme, for example, awireless LAN such as IEEE802.11a/b/n, Bluetooth (registered trademark)communication, or infrared communication.

The microphone 111 receives an external sound. The speaker 113 outputs asound to the outside. The sound processing unit 112 processes input andoutput sounds. The touch panel 116 is constituted by appropriately usingthe operation input unit 114 and the display unit 115. The display unit115 is a liquid crystal panel or the like, which displays a video and animage. A display screen of the display unit 115 has the operation inputunit 114 such as a touch pad.

The operation input unit 114 is, for example, a touch pad such as acapacitive touch pad and detects a contact operation (to be referred toas a touch, hereinafter) with a finger or a touch pen. For example, thedisplay unit 115 displays a command (function) menu or the like, and theuser then selects a desired command by touch. Accordingly, the operationinput unit 114 detects the touch position to receive a command displayedat the touch position. The touch or the touch operation received by theoperation input unit 114 is input to the CPU 102 to be processed. Notethat the operation input unit 114 may be configured to detect anapproaching operation as well as the contact operation.

The video input unit 118 is, for example, a camera. A video displayed onthe display unit 115 and a video input from the video input unit 118 areprocessed by the image processing unit 117. The video input unit 118 maybe provided on, for example, each of a first surface of the portableterminal apparatus 100 and a second surface as a back surface of theapparatus, and a plurality of video input units may be provided.

The operation button 119 is, for example, a push button switch. Whenpressing of the operation button 119 is detected, the correspondinginformation is input to the CPU 102, and an operation corresponding tothe operation button 119 is executed. Note that a plurality of operationbuttons 119 may be used, and simultaneous operations with a plurality ofoperation buttons 119 or simultaneous operations with the operationinput unit 114 and the operation button 119 may be received as oneoperation instruction.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a configuration example of an entire systemwhen an electronic device is remotely controlled in the portableterminal apparatus 100. Here, the wireless communication unit 110 uses awireless LAN as a communication scheme by way of example.

An electronic device 200 includes a television receiver (to be referredto as a TV, hereinafter), a recording/reproducing apparatus (to bereferred to as a recorder, hereinafter) using an HDD (Hard Disk Drive),BD (Blu-ray (registered trademark) Disc), or DVD (Digital VersatileDisc) as a recording medium (to be referred to as a storage,hereinafter), and a storage reproducing apparatus (to be referred to asa player, hereinafter). In addition, each of these apparatuses may be anin-car TV and the like which can connect to a network. In the following,a case in which the electronic device 200 is a TV will be described byway of example.

The electronic device 200 is connected to a home network 300 as a LAN(Local Area Network) implemented by IEEE802.3 Ethernet (registeredtrademark) or the like. The portable terminal apparatus 100 is connectedto an access point (to be referred to as an AP, hereinafter) 201 via thewireless LAN. The AP 201 is connected to the home network 300. Theportable terminal apparatus 100 is connected to the home network 300 viathe AP 201.

As described above, since the portable terminal apparatus 100 and theelectronic device 200 are connected to the same home network 300, theportable terminal apparatus 100 and the electronic device 200 cancommunicate with each other via the home network 300. Therefore, theportable terminal apparatus 100 can remotely control the electronicdevice 200 by transmitting a remote control signal to the electronicdevice 200 via the home network 300.

An area 400 surrounded by the dotted line indicates a user area. Theuser area is a predetermined area such as a home or an office used bythe user. As illustrated in the drawing, a router 301 is connected to anexternal network 310 such as the Internet, and the portable terminalapparatus 100, the electronic device 200, and the like arranged in theuser area 400 can mutually communicate with the external network 310 viathe router 301.

The portable terminal apparatus 100 is connected to the AP 201 via thewireless LAN, as described above. That is, when the portable terminalapparatus 100 can communicate with the AP 201, the portable terminalapparatus 100 can be considered to be located in the user area 400. Whenthe portable terminal apparatus 100 cannot communicate with the AP 201,the portable terminal apparatus 100 can be considered to be locatedoutside the user area 400, for example, at a place outside the home.

In addition, the portable terminal apparatus 100 can wirelesslycommunicate with the base station 500. The portable terminal apparatus100 can also mutually communicate with the external network 310 via thebase station 500. As described above, since the home network 300 is alsoconnected to the external network 310 via the router 301, the portableterminal apparatus 100 can also communicate with the electronic device200 via the base station 500, the external network 310, the router 301,and the home network 300.

As described above, the portable terminal apparatus 100 can remotelycontrol the electronic device 200 via the home network 300. FIG. 3 is aview showing a display example of the portable terminal apparatus 100when the electronic device 200 (TV) is remotely controlled by using theportable terminal apparatus 100.

As shown in FIG. 3, the display unit 115 displays remote control buttons160 such as a broadcast wave selection button 161, a cursor button 162,an enter button 163, a program guide display button 164, a volumecontrol button 165, and a channel selection button 166, as needed. Inthis case, various types of buttons displayed on the display unit 115are not limited to those shown in FIG. 3, and may be those using iconsexpressed by pictures and symbols.

The user performs a touch operation on the desired remote control button160. The touch panel 116 detects the touch position on the touch panel116 and transmits the detected information to the CPU 102. The CPU 102generates a control command corresponding to the remote control button160 displayed at the touch position based on the detected information.In this case, correspondence table data between various types of remotecontrol buttons and control commands is stored in the memory 103. TheCPU 102 transmits the generated control command from the wirelesscommunication unit 110 to the electronic device 200. In this manner, theportable terminal apparatus 100 can remotely control the electronicdevice 200.

When, for example, performing an operation for selecting a program to beviewed, the user selects the program guide display button 164 by touch,displays a program guide on the screen of the electronic device 200(TV), selects a desired program to be viewed with the cursor button 162,selects the enter button 163 by touch, and makes the current programswitch to the selected program (channel), thereby allowing the user toview the program.

In this manner, although the user sometimes continuously performs aplurality of remote control operations, the user often performs a remotecontrol operation after a few minutes or more has passed since aprevious remote control operation such as a remote control operationwhen performing volume control during viewing or selecting a nextprogram to be viewed after the end of a viewed program. Here, ingeneral, in order to suppress battery consumption, a portable terminalapparatus is set to be put into the sleep state when a predeterminedtime (e.g., 30 seconds) of a non-operation state passes. When the abovepredetermined time has passed since a previous remote control operation,since the portable terminal apparatus is in the sleep state, it isnecessary to start up the portable terminal apparatus before performinga remote control operation.

FIG. 4 is views for explaining the operation of starting up aconventional portable terminal apparatus 100′ from a sleep state. Whenthe user presses an operation button 119′ in the sleep state, theapparatus displays a screen on which a lock release button 170′ isdisplayed on a display unit 115′, as shown in FIG. 4(a), for example.This state is called a lock screen. As shown in FIG. 4 (b), for example,when the user touches the lock release button 170′ and transverselyslides it with his/her finger, the current screen shifts to a passwordinput screen like that shown in FIG. 4(c), for example.

In this case, the user inputs a password. When the input passwordmatches a preset password, the lock is released, and the home screenappears (FIG. 4(d)) to allow the user to use the apparatus. When theuser selects a remote control icon 180′ on the home screen by touch, aremote control screen like that shown in FIG. 3 appears to allow theuser to perform remote control of the electronic device 200. That is,when a predetermined time has passed since a previous operation, theportable terminal apparatus 100′ is set to the sleep state, as describedabove. When performing remote control of the electronic device 200again, it is necessary to perform the above lock release operation, andas a result, there is a problem that the apparatus is poor inoperability.

In consideration of this problem, the portable terminal apparatus 100according to the present embodiment performs an operation describedbelow.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the portable terminalapparatus 100 according to the present embodiment.

The operation in the flowchart shown in FIG. 5 starts when the portableterminal apparatus 100 in the sleep state is released from a sleep modeby pressing the operation button 119, for example.

When the operation starts, an activation status of the wireless LAN ischecked (step S501). Since the portable terminal apparatus 100 isconfigured to allow for ON/OFF setting of the wireless LAN function, itis checked whether the wireless LAN function is ON. When the wirelessLAN function is OFF (NO in step S501), the portable terminal apparatus100 moves to step S510 to start up on a normal lock screen and thenmoves to step S511 to check whether the lock release operation isselected.

FIG. 6 is views showing an example of the lock screen of the portableterminal apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 6(a)shows an example of the normal lock screen displayed in step S510described above. As shown in the drawing, only a lock release button 170is displayed on the touch panel 116. In this state, when the usertouches the lock release button 170 and transversely slides it withhis/her finger, the lock release operation is selected (YES in stepS511), and the lock function is released. The process then moves to stepS507 to display an authentication screen. The authentication screen willbe described in detail later.

In step S511 to check whether the lock release operation is selected,when the user does not select the lock release operation (NO in stepS511), the process returns to step S510 to check the activation statusof the wireless LAN.

In step S501 to check the activation status of the wireless LAN, whenthe wireless LAN function is ON (YES in step S501), it is checkedwhether it is possible to communicate with the AP 201 (step S502).Wireless LAN communication with the AP 201 is performed throughauthentication and encryption to prevent unauthorized communication by athird party. An encryption scheme used includes WEP (Wired EquivalentPrivacy), WPA (WiFi Protected Access), and WPA2.

In step S502 to check whether it is possible to communicate with the AP201, when it is not possible to communication with the AP 201 (NO instep S502), the process moves to step S510 to start up on the normallock screen and then moves to step S511 to check whether the lockrelease operation is selected, as in the case in which the abovewireless LAN function is OFF (NO in step S501).

In step S502 to check whether it is possible to communicate with the AP201, when it is possible to communicate with the AP 201 (YES in stepS502), it is determined that remote control can be performed. Theprocess moves to step S503 to start up a remote control display lockscreen and then moves to step S504 to check whether the remote controlbutton 160 is selected. FIG. 6(b) shows an example of the above remotecontrol display lock screen. As shown in FIG. 6(b), the lock releasebutton 170 and the remote control button 160 are displayed on the touchpanel 116.

In step S504 to check whether the remote control button 160 is selected,when the user selects the desired remote control button 160 by touch(YES in step S504), the remote control signal corresponding to theremote control button 160 touched by the user is transmitted to theelectronic device 200 (step S505). The process then moves to step S511to check whether the lock release operation is selected.

In step S504 to check whether the remote control button 160 is selected,when no remote control button is selected (NO in step S504), the processmoves to step S506 to check whether the lock release operation isselected.

In step S506 to check whether the lock release operation is selected, asshown in FIG. 6(c), for example, when the user touches the lock releasebutton 170 and transversely slides it with his/her finger so as toselect the lock release operation (YES in step S506), the lock functionis released, and the process moves to step S507 to display theauthentication screen. When the lock release operation is not selected(NO in step S506), the process returns to step S504 to check whether aremote control button is selected.

An authentication screen displayed in step S507 is a password inputscreen like that shown in FIG. 6(d), for example. When the user inputs apassword on this screen, the process moves to step S508 to performauthentication. In step S508, it is checked whether the password inputby the user matches a preset password. If the password matches thepreset password (authentication is OK; YES in step S508), the homescreen is displayed (step S509), and the processing ends. When thepassword does not match the preset password (authentication is NG; NO instep S508), the process returns to step S501 to check the firstactivation status of the wireless LAN.

As described above, according to the portable terminal apparatus 100according to the present embodiment, there can be provided a portableterminal apparatus having high operability as a remote controller whileensuring security performance because the remote control buttons 160 aredisplayed to remotely control an electronic device without performinglock release processing, as shown in FIG. 6(b).

Note that the display example of the remote control buttons 160 beforelock release processing is not limited to that shown in FIG. 6(b) andcan be variously changed. The remote control buttons 160 need not alwaysbe displayed simultaneously with the lock release button. In addition,assume that a button which allows the user to select whether to displaythe remote control buttons is temporarily displayed together with thelock release button 170. In this case, when the user selects to displaythe remote control buttons 160, the remote control buttons 160 may bedisplayed.

FIG. 7 is a table summarizing a correspondence between a state at thetime of releasing the sleep state and a lock screen.

The first case is a case in which the LAN function of the portableterminal apparatus 100 is OFF at the time of releasing the sleep state.In this case, the apparatus is started up with the normal lock screenbeing displayed on the touch panel 116. This is a state in which theuser intentionally sets the wireless LAN function OFF. In remote controlof the electronic device 200 with the portable terminal apparatus 100,the portable terminal apparatus 100 communicates with the electronicdevice 200 via a wireless LAN. That is, setting the wireless LANfunction OFF indicates that the user has no intention to remotelycontrol the electronic device 200. Therefore, there is no problem instarting up the apparatus with the normal lock screen.

The second case is a case in which the wireless LAN function is ON atthe time of releasing the sleep state, but the portable terminalapparatus 100 cannot communicate with the AP 201. In this case as well,the apparatus is started up with the normal lock screen being displayedon the touch panel 116. This is, for example, a case in which the useruses the portable terminal apparatus 100 outside the home. This stateindicates that the portable terminal apparatus 100 is located outside acommunication range with the AP 201. The user who is operating theportable terminal apparatus 100 is also located outside thecommunication range with the AP 201 and hence, is not located near theelectronic device 200.

In such a state, the user does not remotely control the electronicdevice 200, and hence, there is no problem in starting up the apparatuson the normal lock screen. In contrast, in this state, if the userstarts up the apparatus on a remote control display lock screen, theremote control screen which cannot be used is displayed, and as aresult, the apparatus is poor in operability.

The third case is a case in which the wireless LAN function is ON at thetime of releasing the sleep state, and the portable terminal apparatus100 can communicate with the AP 201. In this case, the user starts upthe apparatus on the remote control display lock screen on the touchpanel 116. When the portable terminal apparatus 100 is located in thecommunication range with the AP 201, it can be considered that the useris located in the user area 400. Therefore, the user who is operatingthe portable terminal apparatus 100 is likely to be located near theelectronic device 200.

In this case, since the user is likely to have released the sleep modeof the portable terminal apparatus 100 to remotely control theelectronic device 200, starting up the apparatus on the remote controldisplay lock screen allows the user to quickly perform a remote control.This leads to high operability. In addition, when wanting to perform anoperation other than a remote control operation, the user touches thelock release button 170 with his/her finger and transversely slides it,as in the case of the normal lock screen, and then, throughauthentication processing, the lock function is released, so that theuser can use the apparatus.

As described above, the portable terminal apparatus 100 according to thepresent embodiment displays the remote control screen when it ispossible to communicate with the AP 201, and hence, there is no chanceto display the unnecessary remote control display lock screen in a casein which the user releases the sleep mode when he/she is away from theAP 201, such as when he/she is outside the home.

As described above, when controlling the electronic device 200 bytransmitting a remote control signal thereto via the wireless LAN, theportable terminal apparatus 100 needs to be communicative with the AP201 when transmitting the remote control signal. In the presentembodiment, in step S502, the portable terminal apparatus 100 checkswhether it can communicate with the AP 201, and transmits a remotecontrol signal only when it is possible to communicate with the AP 201(step S505). This makes it possible to reliably transmit a remotecontrol signal to the electronic device 200.

In addition, as described above, in the portable terminal apparatus 100according to the present embodiment, even when the third party releasesthe sleep mode, the remote control display lock screen may be displayed.However, the remote control display lock screen is displayed only whenit is possible to communicate with the AP 201. In addition, since onlythe remote control buttons 160 are permitted to be operated, it is veryunlikely to cause a security problem.

Second Embodiment

A portable terminal apparatus 100 according to the second embodimentwill be described.

Since the internal configuration, outer appearance, and the like of theportable terminal apparatus 100 are the same as those according to thefirst embodiment, a description will be omitted. Therefore, the firstembodiment will be referred to, as needed.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation of the portable terminalapparatus 100 according to the second embodiment. The same referencecharacters denote the same steps of operations as in the firstembodiment, and a detailed description will be omitted.

The operations in the flowchart shown in FIG. 8 start when the userreleases the sleep mode by pressing an operation button 119 or the likewhile the portable terminal apparatus 100 is in the sleep state, as inthe first embodiment.

When the operations start, the state of the portable terminal apparatus100 immediately before the sleep state is checked (step S801). If aremote control screen has been displayed immediately before the sleepstate (YES in step S801), the process moves to step S502 to checkwhether it is possible to communicate with an AP 201. If the remotecontrol screen has not been displayed immediately before the sleep state(NO in step S801), the process moves to step S510 to start up theapparatus on the normal lock screen. Since operations after step S502 tocheck whether it is possible to communicate with the AP 201 andoperations after step S510 in which the apparatus is started up on thenormal lock screen are the same as those in the first embodiment, adetailed description will be omitted.

FIG. 9 is a table summarizing a correspondence among a state immediatelybefore the sleep state, a communication state with an AP 201 at the timeof releasing the sleep state, and a lock screen.

The first case is a case in which a state immediately before the sleepstate is a state in which the remote control screen has not beendisplayed. That is, immediately before the sleep state, the apparatushas performed an operation other than a program for remote control. Inthis case, the apparatus is started up with the normal lock screen beingdisplayed on a touch panel 116.

The second case is a case in which a state immediately before the sleepstate is a state in which the remote control screen has been displayedand it is not possible to communicate with the AP 201. In this case, theapparatus is started up with the normal lock screen being displayed onthe touch panel 116. This is, for example, a case in which, although theremote control screen has been displayed immediately before the sleepstate and the user has performed a remote control operation, the userhas carried the portable terminal apparatus 100 outside in the sleepstate. Since the user who is operating the portable terminal apparatus100 is also located outside the communication range with the AP 201,he/she is not located near an electronic device 200. In such a state,the user does not perform any remote control operation of the electronicdevice 200, and accordingly, there is no problem in starting up theapparatus on the normal lock screen. In contrast, in this state, if theapparatus is started up on the remote control display lock screen, theremote control screen which cannot be used is displayed, and as aresult, the apparatus is poor in operability.

The third case is a case in which a state immediately before the sleepstate is a state in which the remote control screen has been displayedand it is also possible to communicate with the AP 201. In this case,the apparatus is started up with the remote control display lock screenbeing displayed on the touch panel 116. When the portable terminalapparatus 100 is located inside the communication range with the AP 201,it indicates that the user who is operating the portable terminalapparatus 100 is located near the electronic device 200. Since it isvery likely that the user has released the sleep mode of the portableterminal apparatus 100 to remotely control the electronic device 200,starting up the apparatus on the remote control display lock screenallows the user to quickly perform a remote control operation. Thisimproves the operability.

In addition, when wanting to perform an operation other than a remotecontrol operation, the user touches the lock release button 170 withhis/her finger and transversely slides it, as in the case of the normallock screen, and then, through authentication processing, the lockfunction is released, so that the user can use the apparatus.

Third Embodiment

A portable terminal apparatus 100 according to the third embodiment willbe described.

Since the internal configuration, outer appearance, and the like of theportable terminal apparatus 100 are the same as those according to thefirst and second embodiments, a description will be omitted. Therefore,the first and second embodiments will be referred to, as needed.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation of the portable terminalapparatus 100 according to the third embodiment. The same referencecharacters denote the same steps of operations as in the firstembodiment, and a detailed description will be omitted.

The operations in the flowchart shown in FIG. 10 start when the userreleases the sleep mode by pressing an operation button 119 or the likewhile the portable terminal apparatus 100 is in the sleep state, as inthe first embodiment.

When the operations start, current position information is acquired by aGPS receiving unit 105 (step S1001). If the current position is near apredetermined position (YES in step S1002), the process moves to stepS502 to check whether it is possible to communicate with the AP 201. Ifthe current position is not near the predetermined position (NO in stepS1002), the process moves to step S510 to start up the apparatus on thenormal lock screen. Since operations after step S502 to check whether itis possible to communicate with the AP 201 and operations after stepS510 in which the apparatus is started up on the normal lock screen arethe same as those in the first embodiment, a detailed description willbe omitted.

In this case, the predetermined position is nearly the position of anelectronic device 200. In order to acquire the position information ofthe electronic device 200, the portable terminal apparatus 100 may beplaced near the electronic device 200 in advance to acquire the currentposition information with the GPS receiving unit 105. The acquiredposition information is recorded in a storage 104 in advance. That is,when the portable terminal apparatus 100 is located near thepredetermined position, it means that the portable terminal apparatus100 is located in a user area 400.

Note that, in the above embodiment, in step S502 to determine whether itis possible to communicate with an AP 201, when the apparatus cannotcommunicate with the AP 201 (NO in step S502), the apparatus is startedup on the normal lock screen (step S510). However, the apparatus may bestarted up on the remote control display lock screen in a mode ofcommunicating with the electronic device 200 via the base station 500,the external network 310, the router 301, and the home network 300 bywirelessly communicating with the base station 500. Alternatively, theapparatus may be started up on the remote control display lock screen bydirectly communicating with the electronic device 200 by Bluetooth(registered trademark) or infrared light.

Alternatively, as described in the second embodiment, the startup modesmay be switched in accordance with the state of the apparatus before thesleep state.

Note that the present invention includes various modifications and isnot limited to the embodiments. For example, the embodiments aredescribed in detail to simplify the description of the presentinvention. Thus, it is not always necessary to provide all the describedconfigurations. Alternatively, the configurations of the embodiments maypartially allow the addition of other configurations, deletion, andreplacement. In addition, it is also possible to use each embodiment incombination as needed within the scope of the technical idea.

As an example of combining the respective embodiments, when it isdetermined whether an electronic device can be remotely controlled, sucha process may be performed that, after checking ON/OFF of the wirelessLAN function as described in the first embodiment, the state of theportable terminal apparatus 100 immediately before the sleep state asdescribed in the second embodiment is checked.

In addition, as a modification, for example, ON/OFF of remote controldisplay may be set in advance by the user, and the above controloperations described in each embodiment may be performed only when ONsetting is made.

In addition, the respective configurations, functions, processing units,processing methods, and the like described above may be partly ortotally implemented by hardware by, for example, designing them withintegrated circuits. Alternatively, the respective configurations,functions, and the like described above may be implemented by softwareby making a processor interpret and execute programs implementing therespective functions. Information such as programs, tables, and fileswhich implement the respective functions can be stored in a memory suchas a flash memory or a storage such as a memory card.

Furthermore, the control lines and information lines shown are thoseconsidered to be necessary for the description, and all the controllines and information lines are not necessarily illustrated in terms ofa product. In practice, almost all the configurations may be consideredto be connected to each other.

EXPLANATION OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS

-   -   100 . . . portable terminal apparatus, 115 . . . display unit,        116 . . . touch panel, 119 . . . operation button, 200 . . .        electronic device, 201 . . . access point.

1. A method being executed by a portable terminal apparatus, comprising:receiving, by an operation input interface, an input corresponding to auser operation; performing long-distance wireless communication with abase station over a network; controlling state transitions of theportable terminal apparatus to or from a sleep state; performing aplurality of display modes, the plurality of display modes including: afirst display mode during which a lock release icon is displayed on adisplay without display of a control icon when the portable terminalapparatus wakes up from a sleep state based on a first condition,wherein the first condition is met when a control screen for remotelyand wirelessly controlling an external device via performing thelong-distance wireless communication is not displayed on the displaybefore the portable terminal apparatus enters a sleep state; a seconddisplay mode during which a lock release icon is displayed on thedisplay without display of a control icon when the portable terminalapparatus wakes up from a sleep state based on a second condition,wherein the second condition is met when the portable terminal apparatusis unable to communicate with the external device via performing thelong-distance wireless communication and the control screen is displayedon the display before the portable terminal apparatus enters a sleepstate; and a third display mode during which a control icon and a lockrelease icon are displayed on the display when the portable terminalapparatus wakes up from a sleep state based on a third condition,wherein the third condition is met when the portable terminal apparatusis able to communicate with the external device via performing thelong-distance wireless communication and the control screen is displayedon the display before the portable terminal apparatus enters a sleepstate, wherein the control screen is used to execute control operationson the external device based on the input received by the operationinput interface; displaying a screen for performing authentication toexecute an unlock operation for the portable terminal apparatus when thelock release icon is selected in one of the first, second, or thirddisplay modes; and transmitting via the long-distance wirelesscommunication a remote control signal corresponding to the selectedcontrol icon to the external device when the control icon is selected inthe third display mode without selection of the lock release icon. 2.The method according to claim 1, wherein performing the long-distancewireless communication with the external device includes implementing anencryption scheme.